Morimoto Imperial Pilsner | Rogue Ales

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User Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Ego:

comes in a beautiful ceramic (white) bottle with reusable rubber stopper attatched, very nice. $12.99 for a 1pt 10oz thingy..

imperial pilsner ? yep it is strange.. but hey rogue is usually good so what the heck...

pale golden color on the pour and clear/clean looking in the glass.. excellent head, almost 2 fingers and holding, no strong odor detected (not that this style is know for that, but if you sniff some american crap you can smell the adjuncts)
taste:
hop and malt are both up front, not any bite to the hop due to the balance of the malt. this doesnt taste 8.8% at all except maybe a twinge at the very back end of the after taste. the carbonation is perfect, just enough to bubble but not enough to froth or be over bearing. I am amazed how balanced this beer is, especially at the higher ABV.. friggin kudos to rogue, this is tasty, doesnt have the bitterness one finds in some typical european pils... and not as sweet/malty overkill as stuff from the czech repub.. damn tasty (although the ABV can catch up with you), quite a surprise for a pilsner, the style often maligned by beer snobs like me but this one is worth trying. It never peeks into any other realm of too hoppy for a pils, or too sweet for a pils.. it really stradles the line, recommended.

More User Reviews:

This beer has been sitting in the cooler calling my name everytime I go into the beer store so I finally got it $19.00 bucks!Besides the kickass bottle it pours a great rich golden color with a real nice head that leaves some terrific lacing,aroma has that light steely tinge with some malty fruity aromas I dont pick up that much hop presence.But the hop presence comes thru in the taste with a big resiny taste but with a great crisp malt atack to balance it out,man what a great beer worth $19.00 uhm not sure but a great beer that Iam really enjoying.

Appearance  Incredibly deep and hazy orange in color with a beautiful, pure white head that showed good retention and left some nice lacing.

Smell  Equal balance of malt and hops. The malt base provides the classic Pils aroma and the strong, complex hops tell us who brewed this ale.

Taste  This is a mouthful. I can pick up the classic Pils flavors, but then comes the huge Rogue hops and equally large malt balance. What a mix! The malts sweeten up in the middle and even turn a little buttery.

Mouthfeel  This was awesome. This is on the heavy side of medium-bodied and is exceptionally smooth and creamy. The finish is dry with a touch of bitterness.

Drinkability  I sucked this down like a wino on his last bottle of MD 20/20.

Comments  This came in a really cool 26 ounce painted ceramic bottle.

I really dug this beer! It was like a pils yet it was not your average pils by any sense of the word. The color was beautiful with a medium goldish color with hints of copper, this was a great looking beer. The smell was very fresh and grassy with a nice crisp hop scent in the nose as well. The taste was outstanding with a nice crispy hop zing with a nice spice and full bodied malt flavor. I just wish it was not so damn expensive or this would be the session beer for me.

Beautifully decorated white ceramic swingtop bottle! Pours into my SN tulip a wonderfully opaque orange with hint of amber and a big two finger cragly mountain of white head. Speckled lacing as the head lingers on. Aromas of sweet creamy grainy malts along with some caramel notes. The Sterling hops bring a wildflower, citrusy spice aroma to the brew that is rather nice. Lingering notes of freshly baked yeasty bread.

First sip brings a clean, crisp pale, slightly caramelly maltiness. Bready, yeasty tones show up mid palate and are followed by a citrusy, spicy floral herbal hop bitterness on the way down. Alcohol tones peek out on the finish but don't detract from the overall brew. Lingering bitterness with a lively, creamy end. A tasty brew that I would imbibe more often if it wasn't for the price. I'd like to see more Double Pilsner's as this was a tasty treat!

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, smooth and creamy. It still manages to be refreshing even with the heavier feel. The 750 will disappear all too fast, however drinkability is hindered by the large price tag on this brew. I purchased this at Jungle Jim's in OH for $12.99. Still, for the experience and the beautiful bottle...I'd say that is one that everyone should check out at least once. Another tasty brew for Rogue for sure.

Poured smooth with a nice head of very dense somewhat spongy foam slightly cloudy/murky with lots of tight bubbles. Laced the glass nicely. Smooth and creamy mouth feel but very hoppy, good flavor, slightly sweet (I like slightly sweet beers), tastes of malt and some yeast flavors, good finish with a little alcholol bite. Reminds me of some ales I have tried. Overall quite nice I would buy again.

i bought this beer back in 2006 and have been sitting on it since. Not really by choice, but I never really had a desire to drink it. This is the white bottle, with red and yellow drawings.

Pours a transparent golden gold. Solid 2 fingers of frothly, yet light, yet thick. Lots and lots of bubbles moving through. Everything I would expect in a Pilsner, and this is after 4 years of aging. Thick thick lacing sliding all the way down the glass.

Suprisingly malty, yet crisp with alcohol. Maybe clove, maybe bready. Still very surprised at the amount of malt. Im not getting any hops, maybe a tinge of bittering, yet light.

Malty, crisp and light. For an overly malty brew the finish is simple. Almost perfect for a lawnmower beer. Bittering as it gets warm. Might be a tad bitter for a Pilsner. I could probably sip on this 8.8 brew for a lot longer that I should.

Not sure I would buy again only because expensive Pilsner's is not my typical expenditure. If I was forced to buy Pilsners, this would prolly end up at the top of my list.

Like other BAs, I had to try this because of the cool bottle, and also because I really liked DFH Golden Shower. This was a pretty good beer. It was orange, with a medium head. It had a floral aroma, and the alcohol was perceptible. A fruity, hoppy taste, again a noticeable alcohol taste. Smooth, and drinkable, but not my favorite.

22 oz ceramic, capped, bottle with swingtop on the side, purchased at the Liquor Barn in Lexington, Kentucky, on 6-04-04. I don't remember what I paid for this, but 40% of the price was, most likely, for the heavy, reusable conatiner. In an unscientific test, I determined that a full bottle of this weighs more than a seven pound housecat. Very attractive art on the bottle, must add some cost. Poured into an imperial pint glass, the body is clear and yellowish gold. Massive white head is persistent, and becomes rocky, leaving profuse, sticky lace all over the glass. Appearance is unique and exceptional.

Aroma seems well balanced, initially, but soon gives way to an incredible hops dominance. Info on bottle says that 100% French Pilsner malts are used, but all I could discern was some doughy, malt presence. Lemon, lemon rind, and some honeysuckle floral notes provide most of the aromas.

Mouthfeel explores new territory for a Pils. Full bodied, with a ton of carbonation results in a thickness in the mouth.

Taste is primarily dry and bitter, with an occasional incursion of noble style hops. The high abv is noticed, at times, but is concealed for the most part by the herbal hoppiness. Malt presence is difficult to pick up, other than the doughiness.

Thick mouthfeel and high abv hinder the drinkability. I have reservations about whether an imperial pilsner is a viable style. This is much better on tap, if you can find it, at least in terms of drinkability.

On tap at the Blind Tiger NYC. Poured golden amber and cloudy with some sediment, minimal head. Bready nose. Big beer, floral hoppyness, tons of malt. Very strong pisner. Enjoyed at the recent extreme beer fest. Rarely on tap, I liked it, would be interested in the bottled version as well.

So this is my first taste of the Morimoto line being put out by Rogue. Fans of the Food Network will recognize the name from the Iron Chef series.

Huge creamy head atop a cloudy amber body. Sweet hop smell entices the senses. Silky smooth in the mouth, sweet, hoppy taste with bit of alcohol at the end. Fantastic brew, and my first double pilsner. Highly recommended if you can find it.

Our trip to the BBC for some rumored-to-be-tapped cask Two-Hearted turned out to be quite a nice visit. BBC had this among many other fine offerings on tap for our little jaunt to lovely (sarcasm) Bedford Heights, OH.

Cloudy dull orange in color with a thin and tightly-packed white head that did a tolerable job of hanging around and even lacing the glass. Nose is almost all floral hops, with some medicinal alcohol detected as well. Flavor continues to amaze me with only 4 ingredients coming together for a wonderful experience. Front is doughy sweet, with distinct honey flavor creeping in soon after. Dries out, and ends with an alcohol kick that warms you up. Again, very well-balanced and drinkable. I'm very glad to have tried this one again.

Price a little high but I'm a sucker for new beers and interesting pils in particular. The beer pours a hazy gold-organge. Smell is sweet malt and a little hop. Taste is initial malt, but not sweet, almost a little carmelly or slightly burned. Hop hits initially a little "musty" - I am wondering if this is an older bottle. Although I would imagine the earthenware would protect this beer amazingly well, maybe the dry hop aromas have aged out a bit because there is no citrus. The hop reminds me a little of drinking a highly hopped English ESB past its prime. Musty. Still pretty enjoyable because of the real smack in the face bitterness that lingers on. I don't know about this quantity of malt though - man - I get that kind-of-burned malt taste hanging around. Alcohol is very well hidden flavorwise but at 8.8% it's in there!

Success! I finally found this one in San Diego at Servall. And for only $15! Pours like a glass of regular grapefruit juice, murky orange-yellow with a frothy white head. Delicious aroma of saaz hops, cornbread, sugar, grass, and cereal. Smooth, sweet taste with more hops and a decadent Bavarian malt back. A hint of crystal malt. Velvet, smooth mouthfeel. An incredible all-around beer.

.75 litre ceramic bottle with a flip top. Pours a cloudy pale yellow color. The white head forms into a stiff two-finger cap with good retention.

The aroma is filled with fruit, orange, apple and banana, and raw grain, as well as offerring notes of dry hops and floral accents--as well as some sublte spice and sulfer. The flavor follows the aroma.

The mouth is complex and well balanced, the hops providing a nice contrast to the fruit and grain. Low carbonation makes it very velvety. Very drinkable. Overall, a very tasty, well rounded pils with a personality of its own.

Thickish pour with a marmalade color. Head is scant and thinnish but leaves a lot of dotty laces. Very nice malt, lightly bready with a shortbread feel and honey sweetness. Some sense of an orangey quality that transitions into a sparkling and very well-done hopiness. Light nutmeg sensations. Very close to perfectly balanced. While straying away from a Pilsner in many ways, lagering seems to make this "Imperial" brew plenty easy to quaff, despite respectable alcohol. Rogue does another fine beer with this one.

Appearance is a golden/copper slightly clouded with a large foamy white head, and it leaves even thick bands of chunky lacing with each sip. Aroma has deep rich alcohol and pilsner malts bursts of grassy herbal hops and mild floral citrus fruits with a mineral character overall a bit perfumey kicks ass with biscuit malts kinda doughy as well. Flavor really great the bottle I initially sampled lacked the freshness that this draft version expressed the assertive hops bring a great mix of bitterness and hop bite...mineral tones with grassy citrus hops are killer second best Imperial Pils I have tasted defitnitely doesn't dethrone Sam Adams version but close. Mouthfeel is medium to fuller bodied especially compard to the standard pils but really has some smooth even moderate natural carbonation. Drinkability is heavenly great dose of hops and really gives this style some credibility I'm a fan...I could have downed a few more effortlessly especially during happy hora at Mad Mex Robinson.